TABUK CITY, Kalinga (PIA) — Kalinga lawyers, elders, and concerned government agencies have been tasked to craft initial guidelines to facilitate dropping cases against rebels to entice them to leave the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front.
This following a report from the 503rd Infantry Brigade that among the challenges in convincing rebels to leave the movement is their fear of being judicially prosecuted for crimes committed while they were part of the communist terrorists group.
During the joint meeting of the Provincial Peace and Order Council, Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council, and Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict on Sept. 26, 2024, it was agreed that the Legal Cluster of the PTF-ELCAC together with the Kalinga Bodong Council of Elders, Matagoan Bodong Consultative Council (MBCC), and concerned government agencies including the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the police, and the Army will meet to study the formulation of a mechanism to drop cases against rebel returnees as a way to entice them to leave the movement.
“We will craft initial guidelines on how to go about this one considering the amnesty program of the government, considering the cases where the rebel returnee is a binodnangan or a non-binodngan so, we will define the steps that we will take in this certain cases. Kasi narigat, kasi intertwined diay issues,” said Department of the Interior and Local Government-Kalinga Provincial Director Anthony Manolo Ballug.
The involvement of elders in the crafting of the guidelines is necessary considering the cultural aspect of the issue in relation to the “ Bodong” justice system, according to council members.
The “Bodong” is the indigenous conflict resolution mechanism in Kalinga, under which the ‘binodngan’ or tribes are bound by the ‘pagta’ (law of the bodong) which stipulates penalties for offenses committed including killing, physical injuries, damage to property, among others.
“We cannot just drop the case without settling the cultural aspect of it. So, it also has to include the MBCC, the council of elders,” said Atty. Francis Calsiyao of the Public Attorney’s Office.
It can be recalled that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed proclamations in 2023 granting amnesty to rebels to encourage them to return to the fold of the law, as part of his administration’s comprehensive peace initiatives. **IOS-PIA CAR, Kalinga
